The best ways for flatmates to share bills

The cost of everyday living is rising, so to find the rightplace to live, whilst staying within a strict budget can be challenging., For many sharing a home is the best option.  

Sharing rent is a relatively straightforward thing to do,but what about the other costs of living with others? Things such asbills?  

Sharing bills with flatmates can be tricky but notimpossible. So, if you are currently living in a shared property and want tosort out bill payments, then here are the best ways to share bills.

Sit down and work out costs

It is essential to be able to agree on how exactly you aregoing to share out your bills within your flat. That way, you can all be on thesame page.  

The most standard bills that you are going to need to payout  are:

•            CouncilTax

•            Utilities such as gas, water and electricity

•            Broadband

•            Water  

•            TV licence

You’ll need to know how much each of these will cost  each month (or estimate if they do change) andthen tally up the total cost of all the bills. Divide the total by the numberof housemates to work out how much each individual will owe

Set up a direct debit

Theeasiest way to make sure that your household bills are paid is with a DirectDebit. However, the main thing to consider with this is that one bank accountneeds to be the designated account for these payments to come out of.

A few days before the direct debit(s) is due, set up astanding order to transfer your portion of the money to the main account. Thishelps to ensure that any delays are not going to impact the outgoing payments .  

Some people may suggest setting up a joint account, but thisis only something you should do with people you trust and know will managetheir money.

Use an app for the essentials

While household bills are the main expense to share  across flatmates, , other regular paymentsthat may need to be taken into consideration include bread, milk, toilet rolland perhaps even food if you cook and eat together. These bills can fluctuate,but it is still a good idea to try and share them as much as you can.

At Bantu we have made it extremely easy for flatmates to paybills with our shared accounts that we call “Tribes”. A flatmate can simplycreate a Tribe and invite flatmates, with details of the total amount andvoila! The app will automatically calculate the amount each flat mate will haveto contribute. and Let the funds start rolling in by direct debit  and when you need to chat to your flatmatesabout bill related things. Checking what is in the tribe and the money thathave come in and gone out , and who did the transaction is available to all andthe Admin can assign individual members to pay for specific bills, directly forthe tribe so that responsibility is shared. All that in Bantu.

It can be tricky at times to find ways to share bills as a group of flatmates; it is worthwhile putting the effort in to sort this out. Or else you could end up in trouble or with arguments brewing between you all,leaving you with an awkward living situation!

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